Fabula prima Themisto
Athamas Aeoli filius habuit ex Nebula uxore filium Phrixum et filiam Hellen, et ex Themisto Hypsei filia filios duos Sphincium et Orchomenum, et ex Ino Cadmi filia filios duos Learchum et Melicerten. Themisto, quod se Ino coniugio privasset, filios eius interficere voluit. itaque in regia latuit clam et occasione nacta, cum putaret se inimicae natos interfecisse, suos imprudens occidit, a nutrice decepta, quod eis vestem perperam iniecerat. Themisto cognita re ipsa se interfecit.
1. Themisto
Athamas, son of Aeolus, had by his wife Nephele a son Phrixus and a daughter Helle; by Themisto, daughter of Hypseus, two sons, Sphincius and Orchomenus; and by Ino, daughter of Cadmus, two sons, Learchus and Melicertes. Themisto, because Ino had deprived her of the marriage, wanted to kill Ino's sons. So she hid secretly in the palace and, when she got the chance, thinking she had killed her rival's children, she killed her own unawares, deceived by the nurse, because the nurse had put the wrong garment on them. When Themisto learned what she had done, she killed herself.
II Ino
Ino Cadmi et Harmoniae filia, cum Phrixum et Hellen ex Nebula natos interficere voluisset, iniit consilium cum totius generis matronis et coniuravit, ut fruges in sementem quas darent torrerent, ne nascerentur: ita ut, cum sterilitas et penuria frugum esset, civitas tota partim fame partim morbo interiret. De ea re Delphos mittit Athamas satellitem. cui Ino praecepit, ut falsum responsum ita referret: si Phrixum immolasset Iovi, pestilentiae fore finem. Quod cum Athamas se facturum abnuisset, Phrixus ultro ac libens pollicetur se unum civitatem aerumna liberaturum. itaque cum ad aram cum infulis esset adductus et pater Iovem comprecari vellet, satelles misericordia adolescentis Inus Athamanti consilium patefecit. Rex facinore cognito uxorem suam Ino et filium eius Melicerten Phrixo dedit necandos. quos cum ad supplicium duceret Liber pater ei caliginem iniecit et Ino suam nutricem eripuit. [Athamas postea ab Iunone insania obiecta Learchum filium interfecit. at Ino cum Melicerte filio suo in mare se praecipitavit. quam Liber Leucotheam voluit appellari, nos matrem Matutam dicimus, Melicerten autem deum Palaemonem quem nos Portunum dicimus. huic quinto quoque anno ludi gymnici fiunt, qui appellantur ἴσθμια.]
2. Ino
Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, having wished to kill Phrixus and Helle, the children of Nephele, formed a plan with the married women of the whole people and made them conspire to parch the seed grain they were to give out for sowing, so that it should not sprout; so that, when there was barrenness and scarcity of crops, the whole city was dying, partly of hunger and partly of disease. Athamas sent an attendant to Delphi about this. Ino instructed him to bring back a false response: that if he sacrificed Phrixus to Zeus, there would be an end of the plague. When Athamas refused to do it, Phrixus of his own accord and willingly promised that he alone would free the city from its misery. So when he had been led to the altar with the sacrificial fillets and his father was about to pray to Zeus, the attendant, out of pity for the young man, revealed Ino's plan to Athamas. The king, learning of the crime, handed over his wife Ino and her son Melicertes to Phrixus to be put to death. As he was leading them to punishment, Father Liber (Dionysus) cast a mist over him and rescued his nurse Ino. [Afterwards Athamas, driven mad by Hera, killed his son Learchus. Ino threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. Liber wished her to be called Leucothea, whom we call Mater Matuta, and Melicertes the god Palaemon, whom we call Portunus. In his honour every fifth year gymnastic games are held, which are called the Isthmian Games.]
III Phrixus
Phrixus et Helle insania a Libero obiecta cum in silva errarent, Nebula mater eo⟨rum⟩ dicitur venisse et arietem inauratum adduxisse, Neptuni et Theophanes filium. in quem natos suos ascendere iussit et Colchos ad regem Aeetam Solis filium transire ibique arietem Marti immolare. [Ita dicitur esse factum.] Qui cum ascendissent et aries eos in pelagus detulisset, Helle de ariete decidit, ex quo Hellespontum pelagus est appellatum; Phrixum autem Colchos detulit. Ibi matris praeceptis arietem immolavit pellemque eius inauratam in templo Martis posuit. quam servante dracone Iason Aesonis et Alcimedes filius dicitur petisse. Phrixum autem Aeeta libens recepit filiamque Chalciopen dedit ei uxorem. quae postea liberos ex eo procreavit. Sed veritus est Aeeta ne se regno eiicere[n]t, quod ei responsum fuit ex prodigiis, ab advena⟨e⟩ [Aeoli] filio mortem caveret. itaque Phrixum interfecit. At filii eius Argus Phrontis Melas Cytisorus in ratem conscenderunt ut ad avum Athamantem transirent. [hos Iason cum pellem peteret naufragos ex insula Aria sustulit et ad Chalciopen matrem reportavit, cuius beneficio ad sororem Medeam est commendatus.]
3. Phrixus
When Phrixus and Helle, driven mad by Liber (Dionysus), were wandering in the forest, their mother Nephele is said to have come to them and brought a ram with a golden fleece, the offspring of Poseidon and Theophane. She told her children to climb on it and cross to Colchis, to King Aeetes, son of the Sun, and there to sacrifice the ram to Ares. [It is said that this was done.] When they had climbed on and the ram had carried them over the sea, Helle fell from the ram, and from her the sea was called the Hellespont; the ram brought Phrixus to Colchis. There, at his mother's instructions, he sacrificed the ram and hung its golden fleece in the temple of Ares. It is said that Jason, son of Aeson and Alcimede, sought it when a serpent was guarding it. Aeetes gladly received Phrixus and gave him his daughter Chalciope as wife; she afterwards bore him children. But Aeetes was afraid that they would drive him from his kingdom, because an oracle from portents had told him to beware of death at the hands of a stranger [son of Aeolus]. So he killed Phrixus. But Phrixus' sons, Argus, Phrontis, Melas and Cytisorus, boarded a raft to cross to their grandfather Athamas. [When Jason was seeking the fleece, he rescued them, shipwrecked, from the island of Aria and brought them back to their mother Chalciope, and through her favour he was recommended to her sister Medea.]
⟨IIII Ino Euripidis⟩
[Athamas in Thessalia rex, cum Inonem uxorem ex qua duos filios perisse putaret, duxit †nymphae filiam Themistonem uxorem. ex ea geminos filios procreavit. Postea resciit Inonem in Parnasso esse, quae bacchationis caussa eo pervenisse, misit⟨que⟩ qui eam adducerent. quam adductam celavit. Resciit Themisto eam inventam esse, sed quae esset nesciebat. coepit velle filios eius necare. rei consciam, quam captivam esse credebat, ipsam Inonem sumpsit et ei dixit, ut filios suos candidis vestimentis operiret Inonis filios nigris. Ino suos candidis, Themistonis pullis operuit. tunc Themisto decepta suos filios occidit. id ubi resciit ipsa se necavit. [Athamas autem in venatione per insaniam Learchum maiorem filium suum interfecit. at Ino cum minore filio Melicerte in mare se deiecit et dea est facta.]]
4. Ino (Euripides' version)
[Athamas, king in Thessaly, when he thought that Ino, his wife, had perished with two sons, married †nymphae filiam Themisto. By her he had twin sons. Afterwards he learned that Ino was on Parnassus, having come there for the sake of the Bacchic rites, ⟨and⟩ he sent men to bring her back. He kept her hidden when she was brought. Themisto learned that she had been found, but did not know who she was. She began to want to kill her sons. She took Ino herself, whom she thought to be a captive, as her confidante in the affair, and told her to cover her own sons with white clothes and Ino's sons with black. Ino covered her own with white and Themisto's with dark. Then Themisto, deceived, killed her own sons. When she learned this she killed herself. [Athamas, however, in a hunt, in his madness, killed Learchus, his elder son. Ino threw herself into the sea with her younger son Melicertes and became a goddess.]]
V Athamas
Semele quod cum Iove concubuerat, ob id Iuno toto generi eius fuit infesta. itaque Athamas Aeoli filius per insaniam in venatione filium suum interfecit sagittis.
5. Athamas
Because Semele had lain with Zeus, Hera was hostile to her whole family. And so Athamas, son of Aeolus, in madness during a hunt killed his son with arrows.
VI Cadmus
Cadmus Agenoris et Argiopes filius ira Martis quod draconem fontis Castalii custodem occiderat suorum prole interempta cum Harmonia Veneris et Martis filia uxore sua in Illyriae regionibus in dracones sunt conversi.
6. Cadmus
Cadmus, son of Agenor and Argiope, because he had killed the serpent that guarded the Castalian spring, through the anger of Ares had his offspring destroyed, and he and his wife Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, were turned into serpents in the lands of Illyria.
VII Antiopa
Antiopa Nyctei filia ab Epopeo per dolum est stuprata: itaque a Lyco viro suo eiecta est. Hanc viduam Iupiter compressit. At Lycus Dircen in matrimonium duxit, cui suspicio incidit virum suum clam cum Antiopa concubuisse: itaque imperavit famulis ut eam in tenebris vinctam clauderent. Cui postquam partus instabat, effugit ex vinculis Iovis voluntate in montem Cithaeronem: cumque partus premeret et quaereret ubi pareret, dolor eam in ipso bivio coegit partum edere. quos pastores pro suis educarunt et appellarunt Zet⟨h⟩on ἀπὸ τοῦ ζητεῖν τόπον, alterum autem Amphionem ὅτι ἐν διόδῳ ἢ ὅτι ἀμφὶ ὁδὸν αὐτὸν ἔτεκεν id est quoniam in bivio eum edidit. Qui postquam matrem agnoverunt Dircen ad taurum indomitum deligatam vita privarunt. Ex cuius cruore in monte Cithaerone fons est natus, qui Dircaeus est appellatus, beneficio Liberi, quod eius baccha fuerat.
7. Antiope
Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, was ravished by Epopeus through a trick; so she was cast out by Lycus, her husband. Zeus lay with her as a widow. But Lycus married Dirce, who came to suspect that her husband had secretly slept with Antiope; so she ordered her servants to shut Antiope up in the dark, bound. When her time to give birth drew near, she escaped from her bonds, by the will of Zeus, to Mount Cithaeron; and when the birth pressed on her and she was looking for a place to give birth, pain forced her to deliver on the very crossroads. Shepherds brought the twins up as their own and named one Zethus, from ἀπὸ τοῦ ζητεῖν τόπον ('from seeking a place'), and the other Amphion, ὅτι ἐν διόδῳ ἢ ὅτι ἀμφὶ ὁδὸν αὐτὸν ἔτεκεν ('because she bore him in a passage or because she bore him beside a road'), that is, because she bore him at a crossroads. When they recognised their mother, they killed Dirce by tying her to an untamed bull. From her blood a spring arose on Mount Cithaeron, which was called Dircaean, by the favour of Liber, because she had been his Bacchant.
VIII Eadem Euripidis quam scribit Ennius
Nyctei regis in Boeotia fuit filia Antiopa. eius formae bonitate Iuppiter adductus gravidam fecit. quam pater cum punire vellet, propter stuprum minitans periculum, Antiopa effugit in Cithaeronem, parit geminos et reli⟨n⟩quit. quos pastor educavit, Zet⟨h⟩um et Amphionem nominavit. Casu in eodem loco quo illa pervenerat Epopeus Sicyonius stabat. is mulierem advectam domo matrimonio suo iunxit. Id Nyct[a]eus aegre ferens cum moreretur Lyco fratri suo per obtestationem mandat, ne impunem Antiopam ferret. huius post mortem Lycus, cui tum regnum relinquebat, Sicyonem venit: interfecto Epopeo Antiopam vinctam abduxit. Antiopa Dirce uxori Lyci data [erat] in cruciatum [ea] occasione nacta fugae se mandavit. devenit ad filios suos. ex quibus Zet⟨h⟩us existimans fugitivam non recepit. In eundem locum Dirce per bacchationem Liberi illuc delata est: ibi Antiopam repertam ad mortem extrahebat. sed ab educatore pastore adolescentes certiores facti eam esse matrem suam celeriter consecuti matrem eripuerunt. Dircen ad taurum crinibus religatam necant. Lycum cum occidere vellent vetuit eos Mercurius et simul iussit Lycum concedere regnum Amphioni.
8. The same story as Euripides wrote it, which Ennius also wrote
Antiope was the daughter of King Nycteus in Boeotia. Zeus, drawn by the beauty of her form, made her pregnant. When her father wished to punish her, threatening danger for the ravishing, Antiope fled to Cithaeron, bore twin sons and left them there. A shepherd brought them up and named them Zethus and Amphion. By chance, in the very place to which she had come, Epopeus of Sicyon was standing. He carried the woman home and joined her to himself in marriage. Nycteus, taking this badly, when he was dying charged his brother Lycus, with an oath, not to let Antiope go unpunished. After his death Lycus, to whom he was then leaving the kingdom, came to Sicyon: he killed Epopeus and led Antiope away in bonds. Antiope was given to Lycus' wife Dirce [had been given] for torture; [she] found an opportunity and escaped. She came to her sons. Of these, Zethus, thinking her a fugitive, did not receive her. Into the same place Dirce was carried by the Bacchic revel of Liber: there she found Antiope and was dragging her off to death. But the young men were informed by their foster-father the shepherd that she was their mother, quickly followed, and rescued their mother. They killed Dirce by tying her by the hair to a bull. When they wanted to kill Lycus, Hermes forbade them and at the same time ordered Lycus to hand the kingdom to Amphion.
IX Niobe
Amphion et Zet⟨h⟩us Iovis et Antiopes Nyctei filii iussu Apollinis Thebas muro circumcinxerunt usque ad Semeles bustum Laiumque Labdaci regis filium in exilium eiecerunt. ipsi ibi regnum obtinere coeperunt. Amphion in coniugium Niobam Tantali et Diones filiam accepit. ex qua procreavit liberos septem totidemque filias. Quem partum Niobe Latonae anteposuit superbiusque locuta est in Apollinem et Dianam quod illa ‘cincta viri cultu’ esset et Apollo vestem † deorsum atque crinitus et se numero filiorum Latonam superare. ob id Apollo filios eius in silva venantes sagittis interfecit [in monte Sipylo] et Diana filias in regia interemit praeter Chloridem. at genitrix liberis orba flendo lapidea facta esse dicitur in monte Sipylo, eiusque hodie ‘lacrimae manare’ dicuntur. Amphion autem cum templum Apollinis expugnare vellet ab Apolline sagittis est interfectus.
9. Niobe
Amphion and Zethus, sons of Zeus and Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, at Apollo's command surrounded Thebes with a wall as far as the tomb of Semele and drove Laius, son of King Labdacus, into exile. They themselves began to hold the kingdom there. Amphion took as his wife Niobe, daughter of Tantalus and Dione; by her he had seven sons and as many daughters. Niobe preferred this brood to Leto and spoke arrogantly against Apollo and Artemis, because Artemis was ‘girt in a man's dress’, and Apollo wore a robe † downward and long-haired, and because she herself surpassed Leto in the number of her children. For this Apollo killed her sons with arrows as they hunted in the forest [on Mount Sipylus] and Artemis killed her daughters in the palace, except Chloris. The mother, bereaved of her children, is said to have been turned to stone by weeping on Mount Sipylus, and ‘her tears are said to flow’ there to this day. Amphion, when he wanted to storm Apollo's temple, was killed by Apollo with arrows.
X Chloris
Chloris Niobes et Amphionis filia, quae ex septem superaverat. hanc habuit in coniugem Neleus Hippocoontis filius. ex qua procreavit liberos masculos XII. Hercules cum Pylum expugnaret Neleum interfecit et filios eius decem, undecimus autem Periclymenus beneficio Neptuni avi in aquilae effigiem commutatus mortem effugit. nam duodecimus Nestor in †ilio erat. qui tria secula vixisse dicitur beneficio Apollinis. nam quos annos †Chloris et fratrum [Apollo] eripuerat, Nestori concessit.
10. Chloris
Chloris was the daughter of Niobe and Amphion, who had survived of the seven. Neleus, son of Hippocoon, had her as his wife. By her he fathered twelve sons. When Heracles stormed Pylos, he killed Neleus and ten of his sons; the eleventh, Periclymenus, through the favour of his grandfather Poseidon, was changed into the form of an eagle and escaped death. The twelfth, Nestor, was in †Ilium. He is said to have lived three generations through the favour of Apollo; for the years that [Apollo] had taken from †Chloris and her brothers he granted to Nestor.
XI Niobidae
Tantalus Lerta
Ismenus Chiade
Eupin⟨yt⟩us Chloris
Phaedimus Astycratia
Sipylus Siboë
⟨Dama⟩sichthon Eudoxa
Archenor Ogygia
hi sunt filii et filiae Niobae uxoris Amphionis.
11. The children of Niobe
Tantalus, Lerta;
Ismenus, Chiade;
Eupin⟨yt⟩us, Chloris;
Phaedimus, Astycratia;
Sipylus, Siboe;
⟨Dama⟩sichthon, Eudoxa;
Archenor, Ogygia.
These are the sons and daughters of Niobe, wife of Amphion.
XII Pelias
Peliae Cret⟨h⟩ei et Tyrus filio responsum erat, ei si quis monocrepis (id est uno pede calceatus) supervenisset, ut Neptuno sacrum faceret, tum mortem eius appropinquare. Is cum annua sacra faceret Neptuno, Iason Aesonis filius [fratris Peliae] cupidus sacra faciendi, dum flumen Euhenum transiret, calceamentum reliquit. quod ut celeriter ad sacra veniret neglexit. Id Pelias inspicie⟨n⟩s memor sortium [praecepti] iussit eum pellem arietis, quam Phrixus Marti sacraverat, inauratam Colchis ab rege Aeeta †hoste petere. Qui convocatis Graeciae ducibus Colchos est profectus.
12. Pelias
An oracle had been given to Pelias, son of Cretheus and Tyro, that if a man wearing one shoe (monocrepis, that is, shod on one foot) came upon him when he was to sacrifice to Poseidon, then his death was approaching. While he was making the yearly sacrifices to Poseidon, Jason, son of Aeson [Pelias' brother], eager to take part in the sacrifice, as he crossed the river Evenus left a sandal behind; he neglected it so as to reach the sacrifice quickly. When Pelias noticed it, mindful of the oracles [of the precept], he ordered him to ask the king Aeetes in Colchis †hoste for the ram's fleece, gilded, which Phrixus had dedicated to Ares. Jason called together the leaders of Greece and set off for Colchis.
XIII Iuno
Iuno cum ad flumen Euhenum in anum se convertisset et staret ad hominum mentes tentandas ut se flumen [Euhenum] transferrent et id nemo vellet, Iason Aesonis et Alcimedes filius eam transtulit. Ea autem irata Peliae, quod sibi sacrum intermiserat facere, effecit ut Iason unam crepidam in limo relinqueret.
13. Hera
Hera had changed herself into an old woman at the river Evenus and stood there to test men's minds, asking them to carry her across the river [Evenus]; since no one was willing, Jason, son of Aeson and Alcimede, carried her across. She, angry with Pelias because he had neglected to make a sacrifice to her, caused Jason to leave one sandal in the mud.
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